Better Looking
by Vortex82
Summary: Mimori pushes the wrong button and Kyoko ends up screaming out something embarrassing, which is overhead by the last person she wants.
1. Kyoko's Declaration

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing.

Just a little one-shot idea I thought might be fun – first ever fanfic so reviews and constructive criticism would be very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read :)

**Better Looking**

Kyoko snapped. She just couldn't stand it anymore. That voice grating over her senses, the smugness and cloying conceit. The oozing sweetness that disguised her vicious intent behind a little-girl smile. Nanokura Mimori without doubt featured in Kyoko's top ten most annoying people of all time that were probably still only able to talk because ripping out the voice box of another human being was frowned upon by the judiciary system.

Even so, Kyoko put up with it. She was mature. She was responsible. She was the bigger person. Every time they met at school, which thankfully wasn't too often, it would begin. Mimori would get insecure and worried about what sort of relationship her beloved Sho had with Kyoko, and launch verbal assaults to warn her self-imagined rival off. Kyoko would bear her sugar-coated taunts with a smile. It wasn't a particularly nice smile, true, and any responses she gave were ground out through gritted teeth, but she was always polite and managed to keep her temper.

She even went so far as to be reassuring, to confirm that Mimori was prettier, had a better body and was definitely more Sho's type than her. This seemed only to make matters worse though – Mimori seemed to take this entirely the wrong way and interpret it as a challenge or making fun or something else Kyoko really didn't understand. So recently she had taken to trying to ignore the other girl until she got bored and moved on and limiting her responses exclusively to 'hmm' or 'ah'.

But this time was different. This time Mimori, during an unsupervised study session, dared step foot in forbidden territory. She could say anything about Kyoko herself and not elicit any sort of emotional response – Kyoko, after all, had been belittled by experts for as long as she could remember, so Mimori was at best a buzzing fly in comparison. However, this tolerance would not stretch to forgive the insult of certain other parties.

It was ridiculous really. What started off as one of her poorly disguised digs made Kyoko snap. Perhaps it was just the strain of holding back so long that suddenly got the better of her. Perhaps Kyoko did overreact and would have been better to just let it go without reply. Almost certainly if there had been a teacher present Kyoko would have just bitten her tongue.

However, there was no teacher and the comment was uncalled for. Kyoko simply would not stand for one of the people she respected most to be subject to it without some sort of retaliation. So she retaliated. Mimori was shocked at first to finally get a rise out of her usually stoic rival, but then returned with a similar attack. Now that she knew this button existed, she pushed it over and over again.

The sniping turned into bickering, which broke in to a squabble and then rose to a quarrel. Then it escalated further in to territory Mimori was not really equipped to handle: a full on spat.

Both the girls involved were actresses and even in the heat of the moment they refrained from anything physical on a subconscious level. It was so ingrained in them to avoid injury that neither crossed that invisible line – so instead they postured as though they were going to fight, but only words were thrown rather than fists.

They leaned over each other, gestured and battled for higher ground – both wanting to intimidate the other. Voices rose, words sliced and their classmates began backing up. Arguments and counter arguments became more and more ridiculous as the spat progressed until they were essentially screaming overblown nonsense back and forth. Logic, propriety and common sense became foreign words to both. Nothing violent had occurred yet but there was no doubt in the minds of any of their classmates that this was a battle to the death, and they absolutely wanted no part of it.

Mimori's gang of friends left her, and facing the substantial wrath of Kyoko and all her demons all on her own she soon found herself outclassed. The fight climaxed as Mimori had no choice but to back off with tears of frustration welling in her eyes as an enraged Kyoko surged forward, one foot already on her chair, and slammed the other squarely in the middle of her desk and from a great height roared down at her,

"NO ONE IS SEXIER OR BETTER LOOKING THAN TSURUGA REN!"

The force of the yell and the furious passion behind it nearly knocked her over. She tried to muster up her resolve to argue back, to fight for Sho, but frankly the wild, almost crazed, look on Kyoko's face was frightening. She was saved from the utter humiliation of public defeat by a classmate she didn't even know.

"K-K-Kyo-Kyoko-chan!" the unknown girl squeaked.

"WHAT?" Kyoko roared, not taking her blazing eyes from Mimori for a second.

"Look!" the girl said in a panicky sort of whisper.

With a terrifyingly authentic growl, Kyoko tore her gaze from her prey and looked at the girl, who squeaked again and pointed to the door. Kyoko looked up and froze. The fact that a teacher had entered the classroom unnoticed was not really that surprising given the circumstances, however it was the person standing beside him that caused her blood to curdle in her veins.

He looked shocked, was even blushing a bit, but it was unmistakably Tsuruga Ren. Her own words of a moment ago echoed in her brain and she realised it was impossible for him not to have heard them. The burning fury left her and she took the only sensible option open to her. She let out a horrified scream and fell off the table.

Once she had regained vertical alignment and was just steeling herself to look in his direction again, he let out a bemused chuckle.

"Mogami-san," he said and she flinched at hearing her name even if his tone was completely devoid of anger, "if I'm so sexy and good looking, why do you scream like the grim reaper himself just tapped you on the shoulder when you see my face?"

"Because you always appear so suddenly, and always at the worst possible moment!" Kyoko blurted out, flushing gloriously.

The whole class laughed, and the tension eased. Ren fought down a smile as he approached the blushing girl, holding down the desire to push his luck a bit even though he was currently feeling bolder than usual. He glanced over at the girl Kyoko had been yelling such very interesting things at and raised a brow as she gaped back at him with what was possibly the best impression of a frozen halibut he'd seen all day. He sent her a polite but entirely cold smile and her mouth snapped shut. He decided he'd ask later and returned his attention to Kyoko.

"What are you doing here Tsuruga-san?"

"The president wants to see you, and he asked if I'd stop by to pick you up on the way back from my shoot – it's on the way."

"I'm sorry that you were inconvenienced." Kyoko said with a wince even as she gathered up her things in preparation to leave.

"Not at all. It turned out to be quite to my amusement."

She went bright red, followed by a sort of sickly green and Ren wondered briefly if she was going to do a complete traffic light and go yellow as well. She actually settled on a light blush that was really rather charming and coughed to try and hide her embarrassment.

She walked out of the classroom without another word in the sort of way that suggested she was trying hard not to run. He shook his head, smiling, and followed her out. She of course stopped to apologise profusely for her behaviour to the teacher, who accepted graciously on the basis he'd found the whole thing rather funny, and Ren led the way back to his car.

He could see Yashiro had migrated to the back seat since Ren had left him there a few minutes ago, and now understood why his sneaky manager had insisted on not going with him to collect her. Kyoko blinked as Ren opened the door for her and she found the front passenger seat available, but she had more important things to panic about and got straight in without comment.

Ren got in the drivers' side and mouthed in the rear view mirror at Yashiro, "_Three, two, one…"_

Of course Yashiro was mystified until zero came and suddenly Kyoko snapped around to face him as best she could, and managed a bow so deep she smacked her head on the central unit with a resounding _thunk_ that made both men jump.

"I sincerely apologise Tsuruga-san for my inexcusable behaviour and for saying… those things! You must be furious. I-"

He cut her off by grabbing her shoulders and pulling her upright to check her for head injuries. None found he smiled and opened his mouth to offer her some reassurance, but instead found himself laughing in her face. He could feel the astonishment of them both, and fought to control himself. He just couldn't help it; her expression made him hysterical – not only from humour, but also another sort of hysteria born from the idea she would ever think he'd be angry with her for saying that sort of thing about him. It was either laugh or scream.

"Mogami-san, I can honestly say I'm not at all angry with you." He finally managed to say in such a sincere tone that she sighed in relief. "I must admit I'm curious though. That was quite an… interesting class I walked in on. What happened?"

Kyoko, if possible, turned even redder and dropped her head as her shoulders drooped. "Mimori seems to think I have designs on a certain moron who I'd rather not name and tries to warn me off."

"Warn you off in what way?" Ren frowned – he didn't like the idea of anyone threatening Kyoko.

"Just pointing out obvious things – that she outclasses me in every category and I could never hope to compete for the morons' attention when compared to her. I usually just agree or ignore her."

"This happens every day?" Ren interrupted, suddenly finding no mirth in the situation at all. It sort of stung that she could so easily trivialise such insults against her – probably even believed them.

Kyoko shook her head. "Only when we're both in class on the same day – due to our work schedules it's not really that often. She usually gets bored after a while if I don't react and moves on to squealing about the moron with her friends, so it's fine. Today, um, I got mad and argued back… it was a self study session so there was no teacher around and it all got stupidly out of control and ended up as you saw."

Ren smiled wryly and nodded. "What did she say to get you so mad? I only ask so I can make a point of never saying it – I wouldn't want you that mad at me." He added in the hope of lightening her mood. He winced as it had the opposite affect and made her hunch up more as she mumbled something he had no hope of catching. "Pardon?"

"She was so _**rude**_ about you!" Kyoko suddenly exploded, making Ren, who had leant in closer to hear better, jump back in his seat. "She said you probably had to spend five hours in makeup to cover your raging acne! Hah! You probably don't even know what acne is!"

Ren blinked at her heated tone as she scowled and folded her arms, a dark aura suddenly engulfing his passenger seat. Just as he was starting to wonder if his dashboard would holdout against her acidic glare much longer, she let out a sigh and slumped into a contrite heap. "I can't believe I lost my temper over an unfounded zit accusation."

Ren forced down what was surely a dopey grin. He had been fooled before and needed to confirm absolutely before he allowed himself a moment of hope. "So, you got so angry you got in to a huge fight in class… because she insulted _**me**_?"

Kyoko hunched again, but nodded. He had to turn away so she wouldn't see his face. "Well, unfounded or not, you should avoid getting in fights at school over anything. In our business professionalism is everything, no matter where we are or who we're with. The media won't care that it was just a schoolroom spat if they get hold of something like that." He said, attempting a stern tone but knowing his voice was far too gleeful to pull it off – to anyone other than Kyoko of course, who drooped further at his words.

"Yes, Tsuruga-san, of course you're right. I won't let it happen again."

He couldn't quite suppress a smile despite himself, and even decided to tease her, just a little. "But I honestly can't be angry you defended the honour of my complexion. So... that line about no one being sexier or better looking than me was just a heat of the moment retort?"

Predictably, an explosion followed, accompanied by much spluttering and incoherent explanations. Still he clung to the fact her first shriek had been a "NO!", even if it was closely followed by a frantic "YES!"

Ren chuckled, in a considerably better mood than an hour ago, and started up the car. He checked his mirrors before reversing out of the parking space, and froze. His mood plummeted. There, reflected in the rear view was an image of demonic proportions.

Damn. He'd been so caught up sorting out Kyoko he'd completely forgotten Yashiro was still in the back seat. He'd seen and heard everything, and the sneaky little bastard hadn't said a word. Ren did something he'd hardly ever done in his life before: he blushed like a school girl. The devilish grin on his manager's face broadened, and Ren swore for just a moment that a pair of horns manifested atop his head. He cleared his throat and hastily put all his concentration in to driving them all back to LME in a safe and responsible manner.

The remainder of his day had not been good. He had eventually given in and explained the entire incident to Yashiro after the man had taken the snippets he'd overheard and proved that his imagination was far too dangerous to be allowed to out unsupervised – the truth was far less lurid than the many scenarios Yashiro had come up with, each of which had reinforced Ren's belief that his manager probably read far too much Shoujo manga. The teasing had been incessant, and Yashiro had been lucky to make it home without being brutally murdered.

Despite everything though, Ren was still unable to stop a little smile sneaking across his face every now and then. Small and insignificant progress was still progress after all.


	2. FPC: The President's Dilemma

**Disclaimer**: I still own nothing :)

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to review my first story, I really appreciate it! This was actually supposed to be only one chapter (I made a mistake uploading it and didn't mark it as complete), but as I received such kind and encouraging feedback I thought I'd try making it in to a longer story and tie up the loose ends... so here goes.

Reviews and constructive criticism would be very welcome – thank you for reading :)

****FPC: The President's Dilemma**  
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Lory Takarada would not normally have gone to see Sawara-san in person over such a trivial matter as a minor dialogue change. Normally he would have gone through it over the phone or called his employee up to see him. However, the President of LME was far from normal. And today he was a caveman.

His office was currently the most authentic primordial jungle to be found in all of Japan, complete with swamp and appropriate wildlife. While no one batted an eye at seeing him dressed in a full suit with ragged edges in the style of Fred Flintstone and toting a large club, they seemed to think a live crocodile on the loose in his office was a lunacy too far.

No amount of assurance regarding Wachan's deeply philosophical nature and pacifism, or her entirely secure chain, seemed to help. No one had visited him all day so far, and frankly he was lonely. So when his secretary dashed in and threw the script at him from halfway across the room before fleeing back to her desk, he picked up his club and decided to seek out a bit of company.

"It's alright Wachan, I still love you." he reassured the crocodile before taking the script with him to the elevator.

He received only six double-takes from various employees on the way, and little more than a raised brow from Sawara himself. The matter of the dialogue change was soon decided, though Lory felt a need to linger. As he scanned around for an excuse, his eyes fell on a mobile phone of the hot pink variety.

"Isn't that Mogami-kun's?"

"Well it certainly isn't mine." Sawara chuckled. "She forgot it earlier when she left for school – I'm not sure what to do with it actually, she's not due back here for three days now so I thought I'd get Kotonami-kun to pass it on when she checks in later."

"Honestly, what if someone needs to contact her?" Lory said more to himself than Sawara, then blinked as the phone started vibrating. Normally he would not answer someone else's phone, however on this occasion he found himself torn as the caller ID read "FPC Main Line".

Fujiwara Production Consortium was a well-known contracting company in the entertainment industry who would usually only speak to producers and agents. It would have to be something extremely important for FPC to contact an actor directly. He was actually quite surprised Kyoko even had their number stored.

Lory pulled a face as he debated for a second or two then nodded and reached for the phone. "Hello, you're through to Takarada Lory, I am afraid Kyoko is unavailable at the moment but I am able to handle all her affairs." he said in his professional voice, using her given name as it doubled for her stage name.

"Hi!" a woman's voice chirped at him. "This is the Senkon FPC – I'm Maki-chan and I'm calling to confirm Kyoko's appointment for the 23rd at eight-thirty."

He raised a brow – apparently FPC had changed their policy on telephone etiquette. "Senkon? I'm sorry, I've never heard of that division before and I'm not aware of any appointment."

"Ha-ha! Division? You're funny! Senkon's just the name of the clinic. Are you, like, Kyoko's dad?"

"No. Clinic? What sort of clinic?" Lory asked, feeling concern nibbling at the back of his neck.

"The Senkon FPC." she repeated in a tone usually reserved for small children and known idiots. "Family Planning Clinic."

"Huh?"

"I've got Kyoko booked in on the 23rd at eight-thirty PM for a check-up before her first ultrasound."

"Ultrasound? But isn't that usually for monitoring pregnancy?"

"Ah-ha, yup."

There was a long and wretched silence.

"I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me Kyoko is..." he asked, not quite able to say the word due to the absurdity.

"Pregnant? Well of course! She's five weeks along and doing great!"

"Ah, I'm afraid there's definitely some mistake, it's not possible for Kyoko to be in that condition."

"Nope, no mistake. Kyoko, right? Short hair, about 5'3, skinny, timid little thing, has a thing for pink – awfully polite. I've got her file right here. Five weeks pregnant, first ultrasound in two weeks, suspected twins."

"T-twins?" he said weakly.

"Yeah, apparently the father doesn't know yet – she's underage and he's a career nut and she's not sure how he'll take it, thinks he'll freak about a scandal." she whispered as though sharing a national secret. "Oh crap! You're not the father are you?"

"No!" Not just no, but Hell no.

"Phew! Thought I'd done something really stupid there for a second!"

This was probably not the first time the thought had struck her, Lory decided as he massaged his temples. "Really, I do think there is a mistake."

"Well I don't know what else to say to convince you. I guess I'll just call back later and speak with Kyoko herself. Bye bye."

"Wait-" Lory cut off as the disconnect tone sounded in his ear. "She hung up on me?"

He pulled the phone away to glare at it incredulously until a deliberate cough caught his attention. He looked up to find Sawara-san, as well as half the office, staring at him oddly. He forced his lips to stretch in a grin so broad his face hurt.

"Ah, just a wrong number. A very pushy wrong number." he said with a laugh in his voice. "Sawara-san, I just need a quick word in private if you have some spare time? Excellent, this way."

He took the man's arm in a death grip and dragged him in to the nearest unoccupied meeting room. "That was the Senkon FPC."

Sawara frowned. "Fujiwara Prod-"

"No! Family Planning Clinic." he said as if quoting the name of an unspeakable disease. "They said Kyoko is pregnant with twins."

Sawara blinked a moment before snorting out a laugh. "Is that a joke? I don't know if it's you or whoever you were speaking to, but someone somewhere is having a joke."

"I think so. I'm not sure."

"You mean you're actually considering the possibility? Really, it's got to be some sort of a mix up if it's not a joke."

"Yes, that's what I thought, but the girl I spoke to gave an accurate description of Kyoko, they had her number, she had theirs and they even said the father doesn't know because he's a career nut who's afraid of scandal. I can't believe it's true but... anyway, have you seen her in the mornings recently?"

"A few times, yes."

"Did she go to the bathroom? Was she sick?"

"I-I didn't keep track."

"Has she been eating weird food? You know, the sort of things pregnant women crave."

Sawara blinked in deep thought. "I might have seen her with a gherkin."

Lory did not react well to the damning pickle evidence and clutched his club to his chest. "What about behaviour, has she been acting strangely?"

"This is Kyoko!" Sawara cried desperately. "She always acts strangely! Just this morning she got in a fight with the photocopier and fed a music CD through the industrial shredder so violently it scared the temps! Oh, wait! There is something... she has been generally looking worried about something lately."

"How long for?"

"About two weeks. When I asked her what was the matter she said something was coming up she was dreading, but nothing to worry about because it would be over and done with in a few months."

They exchanged anxious looks.

"But I'm sure... I mean this is Kyoko we're talking about. She's in the Love Me section for crying out loud. How could she possibly be in _**that**_ condition?"

"It doesn't take falling in love to make love." Lory muttered. "But you're right, it's certainly hard to believe. I've seen her squeak at the sight of a male underwear model in a magazine, the idea of her... you know... is ludicrous."

"Yes! It can't be true. It just can't."

They laughed nervously, starting and trailing off at the same time.

"I'll call her in and ask her. It's the only thing to do. We should err on the side of caution with a delicate situation like this."

"Yeah, that would probably be for the best." Sawara agreed, clearly relieved this was not a call he would have to make.

"Right. I'll call her then." Lory said, pulling out his phone and dialling her number. He held the device to his ear and then looked down at the pink phone still in his other hand as it started vibrating. He swore viciously and hung up. "It would probably be best to call the school and ask them to pass on a message I want to see her."

Thirty-six minutes later, he swore and hung up again. "Don't they have anyone to answer the phones at that place?"

By now he'd half-worked himself in to a frenzy and, checking the time, resorted to desperate measures. He dialled a third number.

"Ah, Ren, hello. Are you still on schedule at the moment – you should just be heading back from your shoot? Excellent! I was wondering if you'd be able to make a bit of a detour and stop by Mogami-kun's school to pick her up on your way? I need to see her about-"

Abruptly, he cut off as a large number of 'what if's flooded his mind. Apparently the father didn't know. What if by some miracle Kyoko _**was**_ pregnant? What if Ren was the father? More distressingly, what if he wasn't?

"Ahem! I need to see her about an urgent health matter. Well, it's nothing too important, I just need to see her as soon as humanly possible. What? Oh no, of course there's nothing wrong. What could possibly be wrong? It's just that she left her phone in the office and I can't reach anyone in the school office either. Everything's fine, I'm, well I'm almost certain everything is just fine. You're on your way? Ah, good. Ren? Were those your tires squealing? Ren? Hello?"

Lory closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket with as much dignity as he could muster. He cleared his throat and faced Sawara with a serious and calm expression.

"Ren's on his way."

With that, he nodded goodbye and strode purposefully back to his office to wait and brood.

Reflecting upon his thoughts and actions earlier, Lory felt he may have overreacted just a little with Kyoko now standing before him, so very Kyoko-like and nervous in her manner that he was almost too embarrassed to ask the important question.

"I'm sorry!" she cried into the tense silence, dropping in to a deep bow and startling Wachan.

"What for?" Lory asked, almost as startled as the crocodile.

"I don't know! You called me in to see you so suddenly I can only assume I've done something wrong. I apologise so please tell me what it is."

"You've done nothing wrong Mogami-kun. Though there is an important matter I wish to discuss." he said and held up her phone. "You left your phone here this morning."

"I'm sorry!" she blurted.

"No, it's okay. Well, try not to do it again, but it's the call I took while it was here I want to discuss."

She blinked and bit her lip. "What call?"

"From the Senkon FPC. They informed me that you had an appointment."

"They're not supposed to do that! They swore it would be private!"

Lory gripped the arms of his chair. He closed his eyes to try and clear his sudden light-headedness. "Are you telling me you really do have an appointment at the Family Planning Clinic?"

"Yes." she said miserably, flushing crimson and wringing her hands. "You were never supposed to know. No one was ever supposed to know."

"I can understand your desire for secrecy, but you really should have told me about this. I can help you, Mogami-san, you don't need to go through this alone but you must be honest."

"I don't understand..." she said, her face a bright red picture of confusion.

"Who is the father?"

"Hizuri Kuu." she said, brightening.

The president reeled. "Eh?"

"Well, obviously he's not my real father, but he told me to call him that so I guess it counts."

"NO! Not _**your**_ father, the baby's father!"

"What baby?"

Lory heaved a sigh of pure aggravation. "_**Your**_ baby!"

"I still don't follow..."

"The baby that exists as a result of you being pregnant!"

Kyoko flinched as though he'd struck her with his club. For eight full seconds she remained a granite-carved statue of mortification. "P-PREGNANT?" she finally screeched, and Lory decided he preferred the awkward silence.

"Isn't that what we've just been talking about?"

"I have no idea right now! But I can assure you I am absolutely not pregnant. How could I possibly be pregnant? Do you know what you have to do to _**get**_ pregnant?"

Lory coughed and blushed slightly. "I have a passing familiarity with it, I do have a grandchild after all. Anyway, if you're not pregnant why are you having appointments at a Family Planning Clinic?"

Her face plunged back in to the deeper shades of scarlet. "I – I – I don't like tampons!" she screamed and burst in to tears.

Lory felt awful. He failed to see the relevance, but he felt awful for forcing a young girl in to such a confession. Awful and completely bewildered.

"Please don't cry, Mogami-kun." he coaxed gently, frantically feeling around in his desk drawers for a tissue.

"For Box-R... I have to wear a bathing suit for some pool scenes... Natsu's tormenting a member of the swim-team... I've been dreading it since I heard about it two weeks ago... shooting for the arc's going to run for three months and... and..." she said brokenly between sobs. "It was bound to happen at some point in that time!"

"What was bound to happ- Oh! _**That**_."

Kyoko nodded and accepted the tissue he was finally able to offer her. She dabbed her eyes, blew her nose impressively and continued in a more level tone. "Moko-san told me about this injection birth control thing – 'depo' I think it's called – and it, well, it prevents me from experiencing _**that**_ once a month. Moko-san says she uses it so she doesn't ever get bloated."

Lory flinched. He now knew so much more about Kotonami-kun that he ever wanted to.

"Please don't tell anyone! It's so embarrassing, what would people think if they knew I was on birth control?"

"Better birth control than pregnant." Lory sighed, cradling his head in his hands. "I promise not to breathe a word to anyone. You might want to speak with Maki-chan at the clinic though, she seems to think you're someone else."

"Oh, yes, Maki-chan always confuses me with Mogawa Kiko-san. I usually just have to confirm my surname and she gets the right file. People say we're very similar except Mogawa-san has a bob and wears pink out of choice. Not that I've ever worn my Love Me clothes there – I didn't want to stand out any more than I had to."

Lory just held back a groan. He should have thought of that – he never even thought to verify the surname. "I see. Well, I think that's about it. You can go now, I'm sorry to have called you in over nothing."

"Thank you." she said and bowed quickly before scuttling out the door at roughly mach 3.

"Well... at least she's not pregnant." he said to himself and huffed a sigh of relief.

The crocodile suddenly grabbed his attention as it sprang forward to completely immerse itself in the water of the pseudo-swamp. Nothing showed but a pair of eyes and nostrils.

"Yes, I feel exactly the same way, Wachan." he said desolately.

A good night's sleep did much to soothe the president's Kyoko-induced-trauma and by the next morning he was almost back to his usual self. He even quirked an intrigued brow when he found himself walking in the same direction as Ren and Yashiro – both men were smiling just a little wider than usual and had an air of smugness.

When he asked exactly what they were so smirky about, Yashiro was all too happy to explain Kyoko's heat-of-the-moment-heart-felt-confession as he called it in explicit detail (exactly as he had heard it from Ren).

"What on earth did you go in to her classroom for? That could have started all kinds of rumours." The president asked with a frown at the end of the retelling. "And why didn't you stop him?" he directed at Yashiro.

"I was still recovering from the journey." Yashiro said, adjusting his glasses defensively. "Besides, your call was quite misleading – Ren got it in to his head Kyoko was dying of a horrible illness or something and there was no stopping him. He had to go see her for himself just in case she needed to be carried princess-style to the nearest hospital."

Ren blinked. "Why princess-style?"

"It's more romantic." both Yashiro and president said as one as though it was obvious.

"I told him it was probably nothing to worry about but he wouldn't listen. Seems he found her in the rudest of health though and forgot all about being panicky."

"It could have been serious." Ren said, folding his arms defiantly. "What if she really had been ill?"

Yashiro shrugged. "I got in the back seat just in case we needed to transport the afflicted with all available haste."

"Oh, I thought you did that because... never mind." Ren coughed and fell in to silence.

"Seriously though, no more handbrake-turns unless there's a better than fair chance Kyoko really is in need of immediate medical attention. I nearly had to dig my fingers out of the armrest with a crowbar!" Yashiro said, shuddering.

"No promises." Ren smirked as Yashiro glared and the president parted ways by stepping towards the elevator.

"Really, you only spoke to her the day before. Kyoko developing a tumour or something overnight is about as likely as... as Kyoko getting pregnant."

Both men swung around, shocked by the choked cry unleashed by the president. They backed up a step as his face turned thunderous.

"Don't. Even. Joke." he ground out through clenched teeth, eyes gleaming like the psycho-killer in a slasher film as the elevator doors closed slowly around him.


End file.
